My favorite meal has changed. Today's lunch encompasses everything that is good and happy about eating real food; it honestly doesn't get any better than this for me.

Organic/semi-local smoked salmon, local/organic butternut squash fries, local/organic spinach, local/organic tomatoes, Annie's all natural dressing.

This meal was beautiful, delicious and satisfying. Lately in our home we've been declaring meals "the best _____ ever" and it makes me feel good that we aren't content with eating sub-par food. Sure, we do and it's almost always when we eat out, but at home, for the most part, we eat well.

I am 100% passionate about eating and cooking this way, it makes me so excited that I almost can't stand myself.

The salmon was out of this world, hands down, the best. Perfectly seasoned, tender, flaky, juicy...

Our friend Matthew brought over a bucketful of squash and I honestly stared at them wondering what I would make. I recognized the butternut squash and admittedly never having it before decided to make fries. I cut them up and tossed them with a little olive oil, sea salt, garlic powder and cayenne. Baked at 425 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. I'm officially in love with butternut squash.

Have you eaten anything lately that knocked your socks off?

I'm not kidding around folks, it was 93 degrees yesterday, but my soul is feeling 73 degrees with a slight crisp fall chill in the air. I know it's here and just to make sure I made this apple bake. Oh, and I dyed my hair back to brown last night, but that's another entry for another time.

Now, to be clear this is actually apple crisp breakfastized and lightened up. Here is what it looked like pre-oven:

I know, it looks like Oliver Twist porridge. But, what it is, is the potential to be delicious. Someone asked me if I make up my own recipes and the answer is yes. Unless I specify otherwise with a link, all of my recipes are from me. I'm a food lover and surely some of them have been inspired by one recipe or another, but even then I rarely follow a recipe 100%. I got that from my mom, we aren't followers.

I had a giant yellow honey (local) apple that needed to be eaten and I just don't see any point in eating a giant raw apple by myself. And who wants to share half of an eaten apple? I cut it up into thin slices and placed them in this medium sized baking dish. And then I got crazy with some (raw, local, organic) agave nectar and a dash or two of cinnamon.

Now for the topping. I combined 1/2 C organic full-fat plain yogurt, 3/4 C oatmeal, dash of vanilla, dash of cinnamon, 2 tsp. brown sugar and 1/8 C. chopped macadamia nuts. You can use whatever nut you wish, I just had these on hand. Stir until everything is mixed up and well coated. Spread evenly over apples.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until the apples are soft.

While I let it cool off for a minute or two I made a little icing of 1.5 T cream cheese, 1/2 tsp. agave necter (warmed until smooth) with a splash of vanilla and dash of cinnamon. Drizzle over warm apple bake and eat.

What I love about this dish is that it uses no butter or flour and very little sugar, yet the apples make it sweet. It's delicious and cozy and a perfect fall breakfast. For those who count I calculated the whole dish to to be right around 500 calories. I also liked that because it wasn't so sweet I didn't feel tempted to stand at the dish with my fork and eat and eat and eat.

You know how desserts call to you somehow? Drag you back for seconds? Torment your mind until it is all gone? This will not do that to you.

Apple n' Oatmeal Breakfast Bake

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees. Use a medium sized baking dish.

Filling:

1 very large (or two medium) yellow or green apples sliced thin

2 tsp. agave nectar

Cinnamon

Topping:

1/2 Cup plain full-fat yogurt

3/4-1 C. oats

2 tsp. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 C chopped nuts (I used salted)

Pinch of salt if using unsalted nuts

Icing:

2 T. cream cheese

1 tsp. agave nectar

1/8 tsp. vanilla

dash of cinnamon

That oatmeal yesterday had me full until about 2:30. Right when we were headed out to get our car tires balanced and go to Josh's eye exam. I love it when that happens. Luckily I had some Bare Naked apple and pecan trail mix to snack on in the car.

The thing that I noticed about trail mix is that it is better to eat it all at once rather than picking the pieces you like. I don't know what it is, but the salty and sweet flavors with chewy and crunchy textures all go together nicely. I ate about a handful. (BTW, my Bare Naked contest has ended, I will draw a name at some point this evening.)

After our chores we settled on Macado's for dinner. It was Mexican night so I chose the southwestern salad (one of my favorites.)

I did not eat the deep fried shell. Those things are truly the devil and honestly not that good. I ate all of the salad: lettuce, tomato, gaucamole, and chicken. And a few tortilla chips.

Around 11:30 I got hungry again and had a small mug of white chocolate macadamia nut cookie oatmeal and raspberry zinger tea with agave.

In other news, I'm working on a new recipe this morning (it's in the oven now!) and I have a busy day ahead of me! Tomorrow I'm driving to West Virginia to stay the night with my bestest friend. Saturday and Sunday will be spent with Krissie (!!!) and Miranda (!!!) in my hometown. And then Monday morning I'm headed to Charleston, SC with sister and mom for a (working) vacation.

I also got on the scale to find that I've lost 2 lbs. so far this week!

I have soo much to do before I leave. Laundry is at the top of the list. See you in a bit!

My favorite cookie ever is white chocolate macadamia nut. Salty, sweet, buttery. It's a good one. And truth be told I really wanted to make a batch. I even gathered the ingredients. BUT what happens when I want to innocently bake 3 dozen cookies? I end up eating at least a dozen. Not good.

So instead I make oatmeal:

Cook the oatmeal and milk on the stove until it comes to a slight boil. Add vanilla, brown sugar and half of the toppings. Stir for about two minutes. Take off heat before it gets too thick. I like my oatmeal creamy. Top with remaining nuts, white chocolate and cranberries.

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Happy Trail Mix Day! It's 8:30 so you have three and half hours on the east coast to eat some trail mix. You won't regret it.

A couple of weeks ago Em from Bear Naked Granola emailed me asking if I'd try out their new line of trail mixes. Yes indeed. They came last week with a sweet hand written note just in time for an afternoon snack. Of course, I opened the chocolate one first. Check out what I got:

Thanks to Josh (ahem) I only have half a bag left, but I've had a chance to sample all of them. They are good. I never got trail mix, the idea of it. Dried fruit and nuts, but as I've aged and wised up I've come to love the combination. I do wish though that these bags had more nuts and granola balls. The chocolate is my favorite, the cocoa almonds, the balls of chewy chocolaty granola and cranberries, what's not to love? It goes perfectly on yogurt, or just out of the bag when you need a little something before dinner.

Have you tried Bear Naked Granola or trail mix? I first tried Bear Naked in NYC. I remember putting it in my FreshDirect cart thinking "ooh I'm eatin' my fancy pants granola" and it is fancy. You know how most store bought granolas have high fructose corn syrup or tons of sugar and other unmentionables? This stuff doesn't, hence the name and it's good.

So with my remaining half bag I'll have to take some photos this week to make this a proper review, but until then go celebrate the day with some trail mix!

(Contest Over)

Leave a comment about your favorite trail mix ingredients and I'll draw a name from the comments and send you a free bag of Bare Naked Granola and Trail Mix! US only please.

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I didn't get hungry until about 12:30 not because of a certain encounter with mini muffins yesterday or anything. No sir. For Lunch I was in the mood for bolognese and a salad. I made tomato sauce from scratch yesterday.  I've gotten it down to a fine art. The tomato sauce is good, you can taste every hour it spent on the stove.

I added local beef to the sauce and used thin whole wheat pasta. My salad is local/organic spinach and tomatoes with vinaigrette and slivered almonds.

I've only had two mini muffins today, so that is an accomplishment. I should note that they are tiny, about a fourth of a regular muffin, not that I'm justifying it or anything.

I'll admit that I'm having some appetite control issues today. I'm NOT hungry and will not eat again until I am, but I want to. I'm having a super productive work day which either does one of two things, I forget to eat or I want to eat.

My plan of action is to finish a few more tasks, take a break, read, exercise, eat dinner.

How are you handling your workload today?

This was yesterday's lunch for me and josh. Shortly after, we declared it the best sandwich ever and had it again for dinner. I think the bread is what makes it special, he thinks it's the combination of everything: , artisan bread, local/organic tomatoes and spinach, organic bacon, fresh mozzarella and little mayonnaise. It was amazing.

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday (one I've been learning for a very long time) do not bake treats or bring convenient ones in the house while at the height of PMS. Don't even think about it.

Yesterday I was feeling moody and funky. One of those days where it's best to settle in, get work done and have little interaction with the world. So I decided to cook. Tomato sauce from scratch, black bean dip and mini pumpkin muffins. I don't know what it was about those muffins, but I just started popping them in my mouth. One after another.  I felt sick and had to take an hour long nap.

This feeling made day two of c25k (couch to 5k) much harder. My stomach was churning, my mouth was dry, and I was willing my body up the hills like a crack fiend. Too much sugar.

What did I learn? No treats in the house. Especially during the throws of PMS. And that c25k requires real food and real fuel. Mini pumpkin muffins will only get you so far.

This morning I'm still hung over from the experience. Full, bloated and a head ache from dehydration. There are mini muffins still in a baggie on the table, but they look less appealing. Food does not interest me right now.

My plan of action for the day:

Really pay attention to hunger. If you feel the need to eat otherwise, blog about it. Do something else.

Do 30 minutes of some activity.

Drink lots of water.

Move on.

Good morning! I knew this was going to be my breakfast as soon as I put those dang cantaloupe cubes in the freezer. Not sure how this concoction would turn out though...

1 cup low fat organic yogurt (normally would use full fat)

1/2 cup frozen organic peaches

3 large cubes of frozen cantaloupe

Blend until everything is smooth. Add 1/4 Cup organic whole milk (or whatever you use) to thin it out

Add half serving granola, blend until even smoother. Pour into a bowl and top with remaining granola.

It is so good! I mean really, really surprisingly delicious. I feel physically good after eating it too.

I used Archer Farms blueberry flax seed granola this morning:

There are so many ways to change this recipe up, I'm thinking a half banana might be nice too. What  are you having for breakfast?

*Please keep in mind that I'm not a nutritionist nor am I condoning a certain way of eating to lose weight or be healthy. This is for my own tracking and accountability.

Follow me on twitter: @thetokenfatgirl

Mockingjay was released today and unfortunately that means a 35 minute drive to the nearest bookstore. Josh suggested that we eat Chinese while we were out to make it worth the trip for him us.

Chinese buffet. Can it be done? Can I control myself with never ending egg rolls, ice cream, fried rice and pepper chicken? It's totally possible!

My plate:

*Please keep in mind that I'm not a nutritionist nor am I condoning a certain way of eating to lose weight or be healthy. This is for my own tracking and accountability.

Here's what worked for me:

1) Go when you're hungry (try not to be starving)

2) Allow yourself one plate. One trip to the buffet.

3) Get what you truly want. If you really like general tso's chicken get a couple of bites rather than a cup. Try to get a few items that you know to be lower in calories (steamed vegetables, sushi, fruit etc.) to fill up 1/4 of your plate regardless if you eat it. Stick to small samples of everything you want without overlapping food.

4) Eat slowly.

5) Drink water. Lots of water.

6) Enjoy each bite, make a mental note if you actually like what you're eating or if you think you should because it's fried. Stop eating if you don't like it.

7) When you're full, put your fork down. Drink water and breathe. Feel satisfaction from your meal and enjoy your company. Put your napkin on your plate and push it away from you to signal that you're finished.

This is where I stopped:

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Let me start by saying that I don't like cantaloupe. It annoys me. It's the cheap filler in fruit cups. So when I passed a bin of locally grown ones at Harvest Moon yesterday I surprised myself by putting one in my cart. Maybe it will taste better?

Nope still cantaloupe. Although fresh and juicy I feel like it wants to taste better, the taste is muted to me. I can't explain it. Josh seems to enjoy it, but I was struggling. Justifying each bite with "it's good for you".

What am I going to do with it?

I cut some up and put it in the freezer with the hopes that I can make a nice smoothie with peaches. Any other ideas?

I loved the rest of my breakfast though. Two slices of bacon, eggs with spinach and mushrooms and half of an onion bagel with unsalted butter.

Follow me on twitter: @thetokenfatgirl